1. Field
The present embodiments relate to techniques for analyzing target electromagnetic signals radiating from monitored systems. More specifically, the present embodiments relate to a method and system for amplifying the target electromagnetic signals using an ellipsoidal surface in a radio frequency (RF) microscope.
2. Related Art
The operation of electronic components may be affected by a number of degradation modes that result in integrity issues for the electronic components, such as errors, faults, and failures. Such degradation modes may require a variety of techniques for accurate characterization and analysis. In particular, visible degradation in the form of broken solder joints, broken connectors, delamination, and/or thermal deformation or scorching may be detected through unaided visual examination of the electronic components.
On the other hand, some degradation modes may be too small to observe with the naked eye and may require the use of a magnifying glass, microscope, high-resolution photography, and/or high-resolution X-rays. Such microscopic degradation modes may include hairline cracks in conductors, partial-penetration solder cracks, tin whiskers in lead-free solder, and/or electromigration.
Moreover, current techniques for analyzing microscopic degradation modes may require exposing the phenomenon of interest for optical viewing. Such techniques may further involve the significant use of human resources and/or destruction of the component(s) under analysis. For example, electromigration phenomena inside the internal metal layers of a packaged computer chip may only be examined after removing the packaging (e.g., through cutting, grinding, and/or acid etching) and properly positioning the computer chip underneath a microscope.
Hence, what is needed is a technique for analyzing and magnifying microscopic degradation modes in electrical components without the above-described problems.